Adam : Giselle
Artists of the Bolshoi Ballet
Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre
Pavel Klinichev
A little surprisingly, Yuri Grigorovich's hand lies fairly lightly on the Bolshoi's current version of Giselle. The choreography is a combination of the original French Coralli/Perrot, and the Petipa (whose brother created the role of Albrecht) revisions of some 40 years later, although I think I see Grigorovich's touch in the substantially simplified mime. That said, it seems to me that there is something missing from this version, a touch of fantasy, a certain deftness, leaving a well-crafted, but somewhat stolid view of this much-loved and very familiar classic.
There is also a huge rift between the two acts. It's not just the performance of the prima ballerina, but it's there in the action (what there is of it), the relations between all the characters, and even in the timing of the corps de ballet, which struck me as just very slightly off in the first act. More practically, Hilarion (known as Hans in this version) is here just an unlucky suitor, whereas he tends to come off as more thuggish in other versions, and certainly more aggressively jealous. In theory, I sympathise, there's no real reason he should be an actual bad guy. In practice, it undermines the story, and there was a lack of dramatic progression here, no sense of the turn of the screw, building up to the climax of the betrayal of the unfortunate heroine. Most of all, though, I've already said that I don't believe vulnerability to be Svetlana Zakharova's strong suit in terms of interpretation, and that was certainly backed up by today's performance, no matter how technically proficient her dancing.
The second act was a completely different story, despite the prosaism of the staging at the beginning. I'm accustomed to seeing Myrtha emerge from swathes of dry ice, but Ekaterina Shipulina stepped onto the stage with what can only be called extreme solidity; again, very proficient, but hard-edged and not remotely eldritch. Zakharova, on the other hand, was in her element in this act. Giselle's spirit does not lack emotion here, but it is that of another plane of existence, she has left the realities of the first act behind, and her protection of Albrecht comes not from a current, human love, but from a relic of tenderness, an echo of what once was, and a pure spirit of forgiveness. That was something that Zakharova conveyed superbly, ethereally graceful (despite a fall), both dazzling and otherworldly, as if earthly laws no longer bound her. The corps, too, took on another dimension, finally bringing some real magic to the ballet as the ranks of the Wilis form, especially in the famous sequence of intercrossing sautés arabesque, breathtaking when performed correctly as here.
I had seen little enough of Sergei Polunin before he slammed the door at the Royal Ballet, and nothing at all since then, until today. Albrecht is perhaps not the most natural fit for this dynamic dancer, though he's impressive enough in the part. However, he wasn't able to impart to the first act any of the dramatic impetus the staging lacked, and in the second, I felt he missed what some of the greatest interpreters know to bring to the role, because Albrecht is not just a prop for the ballerina. The whole point of the second act, for him, is that it is only now, realising what Giselle is prepared to do for him, that the character understands the full extent of his loss, and the real tragedy of his own folly. That said, Polunin is young yet, and it may come to him with a few more years, if he continues to dance this role.
A bit of a mixed bag, therefore, this Bolshoi Giselle. A production and a Wili Queen that lacked fantasy, a Giselle a little two-dimensional as the shy, innocent peasant girl, but who shone as the supernatural embodiment of a transfigured love, and an Albrecht with a thing or two to learn about his part dramatically, if not practically. I have another Giselle lined up for the end of the month, it will be interesting to compare.
[Next : 13th October]
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